The Rose and The Tiger
by RWBYofRemant
Summary: This is a non cannon story about Ruby and Raven and Raven's pet tiger Tigra. It'll start off pretty slow, but if you stick with it, it'll get interesting later on.
1. Chapter 1

It's been about 9 years by now. This beautiful little girl has been a blessing to me for all these years. And here she was, still with me and still making me happier than anything. It's been about 9 years. It's been 9 years since my sister died and I took in her beautiful baby girl. She was the perfect little girl from the moment I saw her. I know that Summer would be proud if she could see her now. Ruby was a very special girl. She wasn't just a normal girl. She was also a cat Faunus. Summer was a cat Faunus as well, while Ruby's father, Tai Yang, was a regular human. Ruby took on the appearance of a Faunus but the strength of a human. While Yang took on the appearance of a human but the strength of an animal. Once Summer passed, Yang was given a decision as well as Ruby. She was given the decision of whether she wanted to stay with her father or come and live with me and Ruby. It took her some time to think about it, but eventually she decided to stay with her father in Patch. While Ruby decided to come and live with me, in a cabin not too far outside of Vale.

Now this little girl was becoming a young woman. She was 14 now and getting more beautiful everyday. But there's someone else who had my heart even before Ruby came along. That was my tiger-Grimm hybrid that I call Tigra. She is my best friend and long time teammate from the first day I got her. She had all the looks and abilities of a tiger but the color scheme of a Grimm. She also has the same armor of a Grimm. There was armor on her back and sides, as well as on her legs and paws. She turned out to be the sweetest cat I've ever seen. At least the sweetest towards her family. Tigra was not a very friendly cat towards people she didn't know. Fortunately, for those people, she listens to me without any issues. But if I let her she can and will attack, going for the kill.


	2. Chapter 2

Today started as just any other. I was sitting inside reading my favorite novel _The Light in the Dark._ It was a dark mystery drama about a murder case that is supposed to be unsolvable. But the detective in the story is said to be the best in all of Remnant, and can solve any case ever. It's a great book if you're into that sort of stuff. As I sat inside completely enthralled by my book, Ruby sat nearby playing her little handheld gaming device. I don't understand how those things work. She tried teaching me but I only got more confused. But regardless, she enjoyed it, and it also kept her out of my hair most of the time, so I let her go on it for as long as she wanted. The lovable beast was busy sleeping at Ruby's feet. So all in all, it was pretty good day.

I was starting to get really into my book when a very familiar voice broke my concentration.

"Raven?" It was none other than my amazing niece.

"Yes, Ruby?" I said without looking up.

"I'm getting hungry."

"Then go make yourself something. You're a big girl now."

"Uh, I would but..."

I looked up at her.

"But...?"

"But," she walked over to the cabinets, "But there's nothing in the house," she said as she opened the cabinet doors.

"Ugh," I sighed as I realized the one thing I forgot to do yesterday.

"Yeah. So Auntie Raven, what are we gonna do about this predicament?"

I sighed again. "Well, I guess we're going to have to do something about this. We're going to have to do this the old fashioned way."

"What do you mean by that?"

I smirked,"We are going to go hunting sweetheart."

"Why can't we just go the store?"

"Because I don't get paid for my last assignment until tomorrow."

"So I'm guessing you're taking Tigra with you?"

"Mmhm. But not just Tigra." I eyed Ruby evilly.

Her ears folded back as she averted her gaze. "But I've never been hunting before. I know how to fight but not hunt."

"It's not hard. It's basically the same, except you have to stay out of sight and completely quiet until it's time to strike."

She narrowed her eyes at that. "I still don't wanna do it."

"Oh really? How do you expect to ever be a great huntress if you can't stay out of sight of the Grimm?"

I heard a slight growl come from the little Faunus when I said that and knew that I had struck a chord.

"Fine. But you're leading the way."

"Hm. That's fine by me. Tigra! Let's go hunting girl."

With that the giant Grimm look-a-like went trotting over to the door. I grabbed my sword and Ruby her scythe. I wasn't too happy about Qrow teaching her how to use that thing but once I saw that she had a natural knack for it I was kind of glad that he did. She always was fascinated with weapons before she was even able to get her hands on one. That was my first clue that she was going to be an awesome huntress even when she was still a little girl. The only thing that has me worried is the not so subtle prejudice that Faunus have to deal with in the rest of the world. Even when they do noble things such as being huntsmen, they get picked on, ridiculed, and in the worst of cases, even killed. The organization known as The White Fang was at the forefront of Faunus civil rights movements. Their cause was noble, but their leader was not. When they first started out, they were having peaceful protests and trying to negotiate peacefully with the people of Vale and Remnant altogether. But no one would listen. After their first leader was killed at a peaceful protest rally by a still unknown assassin, they appointed a new leader to the White Fang. This leader promised the same as the first leader, but with only one difference. They would take the peace that they wanted through fear and force rather than being nice. The peaceful protests and rallies turned into organized attacks on certain political figures and robberies of shops and then burning them down afterwards. This new leader knew that there was no easy and nice way to get what they wanted so he knew that they had to take what they wanted.

"Raven!", I heard Ruby yell. I snapped back to reality when she did that.

"Huh?"

"Are you okay? You totally spaced out for a while there."

"Oh. Uh, yeah. I'm fine, I just got distracted for a minute but I'm fine."

"Are you sure? You looked like you were getting mad for a second there."

"Yeah I'm sure. I was thinking of something from my past that wasn't particularly pleasant when it happened but it's over, and it's in the past now. Now, let's go hunting."

"Okay, but I still don't really wanna do this."

I smirked, now that's the Ruby that I knew. "Doesn't matter that you don't wanna do this. You need to learn this for later in life. Not every mission you go on is going to be an assault mission my little kitten. There are going to be stealth missions you'll have to do. Now while assault missions are always more fun to do they're only for immediate threats. Stealth missions are how we get our intel for those assault missions that you love so much."

At this she didn't say anything. She just looked away from me and started for the door. I knew she didn't like what I said but it was the truth and it was also what she needed to hear. I simply followed after her out the door, my giant beast right behind me.


	3. Chapter 3

We walked for about an hour before we came to the spot that me and Tigra always use when we go hunting. It was a small clearing surrounded by trees. It was the perfect spot for our little strategy that we employed almost everytime we came here. It was simple enough to understand but the timing on it was everything.

"Alright, so what's going to happen first is me and Tigra are going to show how we do this first and then you're going to do it with me and then, when I think you're good enough, you'll execute it with her."

"Okay. But what exactly are we doing?"

"I was getting to that. It's very simple to understand, but not so simple to master. It goes a little something like this; me and Tigra get into opposite sides of the clearing and lay in wait. Then, when our target, in this case a Borbatusk, goes into the clearing to do some grazing or whatever it may be, we strike. Sounds simple right?"

"Yeah it does."

"Yeah well that's the easy part. The hard part in all of this is the timing. You can't just run in there the second the thing stops moving. You have to wait until it gets comfortable and settles down because once it gets into that clearing it's going to have it's guard up because it's going to be expecting to fight something for this area. It's easier to show than to explain. Let us show you how it's done and then you and I will give it a shot, okay?"

"Sounds good to me. I was getting confused anyway."

"Yeah I could tell. Tigra, go."

The giant beast ran around the outside of the clearing to the opposite end from where Ruby and I were at.

We sat very quietly for almost an hour before our first lucky customer came around. It was a Borbatusk. Not surprising, they were the most common Grimm around here. I looked over to where Tigra and saw the big cat crouched down looking from the Grimm to me constantly. I put up my index finger to her letting her know to keep waiting just a little bit longer. She settled down just a little bit but didn't take her eyes off of the pig that was in between us. I turned around to look at Ruby and was surprised that she was watching the Grimm just as intently as Tigra was.

 _Well, I wasn't expecting that,_ I thought to myself.

"Hey," I whispered very quietly to her.

Her cat ears twitched and she looked at me.

"Remember, watch what we do. Okay?"

She only nodded and turned her attention back to the pig. I turned around to look at Tigra and saw that she didn't let her prey leave her sight. Exactly what I've come to expect from her after all these years of training and hunting with her. She truly was an apex predator the likes of which I've never seen from any other animal, Grimm or otherwise.

"Psst." It was barely audible, but her heightened sense of hearing from her tiger blood let her hear almost anything and everything. Tigra looked at me and I just simply nodded my head to let her know that it was time to start the hunt. She got up and silently moved to become perfectly in line with the Borbatusk's armored side.

It was a simple plan, really. I would cause a distraction for her while she charged from the side to flip the pig over with a powerful headbutt to it's lower mid-section, where it had little to no armor. Then I would finish it off with a sword stab right to it's heart. It may sound simple, but it was truly difficult to master and perfect. Timing was everything. if you got the timing wrong, the someone was almost guaranteed to get injured in some way. But Tigra and I had done this hundreds of times, and could probably do this blindfolded if we really tried.

It was time to strike. I stepped out into the clearing, making my presence very obvious to the beast in front of me. It turned to look at me and snarled at me. A clear warning telling me to back off, but I wasn't going anywhere. I drew my sword and readied myself in a defensive position, ready to catch the pig when it charged me. I looked behind the Borbatusk to see Tigra crouching just behind a tree on the edge of the clearing. I nodded to her and she began her approach. She stayed crouched as she crept up on the pig, who was getting visually agitated at my presence. I stood my ground and even inched myself a little bit closer, hoping to keep the attention on me and drown out the little noise that Tigra was making. This really made the Borbatusk angry. It started kicking up dirt as it got ready to charge me. Tigra froze and looked at me, wondering if she should continue. I nodded to her, telling her to continue her approach. She continued and was almost in striking distance. I stomped my foot at the pig and at that moment it charged me with great speed. Borbatusks were known for their speed, but they could only charge in one direction and had to come to almost a complete stop before they could change directions and charge again. But if you're able to stop them while they're at full charging speed you'll temporarily stun them, rendering them basically defenseless. That's exactly what Tigra and I did with our little strategy plan.

I caught the Borbatusk at full speed. The sheer force of these creatures was incredible. It crashed into my sword with all it's weight behind it and then some. The force of the impact caused me to get pushed back a little bit, but I held my block on it without faltering. Even after all these years, stopping these things didn't get any easier.

"NOW!", I yelled when we finally came to a full stop. Tigra roared and broke into a full on sprint right at the pig. I turned my sword just a hair to the left to give Tigra the opening she needed to make the hit. She rammed the Grimm right in the side with as much power as she possibly could. The blow sent the Borbatusk airborne and gave me the perfect amount of time I needed to raise my blade to deliver the killing blow. Before it even hit the ground, my blade was coming down to pierce the soft underbelly of the pig monster. The only sound the Borbatusk made as it died was a high pitched squeal of pain as it died almost instantly from the lightning quick strike. As I pulled my sword from the pig's body, I looked over to Ruby, who was watching with an expression of wide eyed horror and amazement at the same time.

"That is what you're going to be doing with this big cat here soon enough."

Ruby got up from where we were hiding and came over to examine the fresh corpse of the Grimm.

"What are we going to do with the body?"

"We're going to use it."

"Use it for what?"

"What do you think? Food for tonight and Borbatusk tusks go for some good money nowadays. They aren't hard to get, It's just that the damned pigs are so difficult to kill that no one tries it"

"What about the skin?"

"Well I can sell that too for a decent price. Grimm hides aren't really in demand right now since everyone just wants to see them all dead."

"Hmm. It's so sad. Everyone wants to see them dead when they're just trying to live in the world like everyone else. It's not fair to the Grimm."

A statement I never thought I'd hear from a huntress-in-training. She made a great statement that I couldn't argue with because she was absolutely correct. It was mean and unfair in a way but we were also fighting for our survival against an enemy that actively seeks out humanity when in close proximity to it, and seeks out hatred and all the other negative emotions even more than anything else.

"You'll understand when you're older. Right now, it's time for us to get you some real experience in stealth combat. You'll be taking the role of Tigra in this one. You're going to get on the same side and do the same thing that she did. But their is going to be one major difference."

"And what's that gonna be?"

"You, my little kitten, are going to land the kill shot."

"I am?"

"Yup. You're more than capable of killing Grimm on your own, but that's in a full assault situation. You need to learn how to kill without the Grimm ever knowing you were there first."

"But I can already do that. I just watched you guys do it and I know I'm able to do the same thing that you just did."

"You think you can. There's a big difference between knowing and thinking. You've never had to wait patiently for hours or even days for a stealth mission target to get to you. Now, quit your talking and get into position. The herd that this guy was a part of is going to wonder where he went soon. Tigra, get the body out of sight. You've earned a nice little rest after your performance today."

Tigra grabbed the body and started to drag it behind a tree on the edge of the clearing. It would be out of sight long enough so that the next pig wouldn't see it immediately and give us our window we needed to take it out. Ruby got into Tigra's previous spot and I sat down in my original position and waited again. After Tigra hid the body she came and laid down next to me, getting ready to see how well Ruby performed on her first "stealth mission."


	4. Chapter 4

We must have sat there for over 3 hours waiting for the next pig to come along. I'm pretty sure I dozed off a couple times but was very promptly awoken by the giant cat that was laying at my side. She also made sure that Ruby didn't fall asleep by keeping a watchful eye on her as well. But I never got disturbed to wake her up. Every time I looked over to her, I could see her scanning the forest around us for the next target. She had slightly better eyesight than me, thanks only to her cat mother. But that only made her that much more lethal of a killer. It was surprising to see how seriously she was taking this. It was probably only because I was here to watch her or she was excited to be on her first "stealth mission", if you can even call it that. It was more like a little hunting expedition.

Finally, after waiting for what seemed like an eternity, another Borbatusk walked into the clearing. But this one was a little bit different than the last one. This guy was much bigger, and therefore, much harder to block and stop than the last pig.

 _This isn't good. That thing could kill her in one shot if it sees her coming for it._ The thought terrified me. I couldn't bear to lose the only precious person I had left in my life. I looked over at Ruby and saw that she was staring at the massive Grimm that was in front of her. Normal Borbatusks were only slightly higher than waist level. But this one was almost the same height as me. Which only meant one thing. He was the Alpha. And where there's an alpha there's always bound to be more. Except this time, there wasn't. It was odd to see an alpha without his pack. But that probably meant that he got beat out by another pig that was even bigger than he was.

I looked over at Ruby again and this time met her gaze looking right back at me. I motioned for her to come to me and she did so without making a single noise.

"Are you sure you wanna go after this one?", I whispered to her.

"Are you serious? Of course I do. That thing is huge. Bigger than any Grimm I've ever seen before. If there would be any Grimm I would want to take out on my first stealth mission, I would want it to be something memorable."

"I know that Ruby. But this one isn't just really big. Its also very strong. He's probably a former alpha that got beaten out by something else even bigger than he is. I don't want you to get hurt. You mean the world to me, and I don't know what I would do if you got hurt or even worse when it could very easily be avoided by not doing anything."

She gave me a stern look,"Raven, I'm not going to get killed by something as simple as an alpha Borbatusk. I know how to kill these things. I know where their weak spots are and I also know how wide their field of view is. If you position it as well as you did for Tigra, I can run my scythe through it and it'll be dead before it even has time to react to anything."

Again, another statement that I didn't expect to hear from this girl. She really was amazing in more ways than one.

"Alright. I'll try to position it as best as I can. Don't move in for the kill until I tell you to. This thing is going to take longer than usual to slow down. I'll even get Tigra to help me distract it and even slow it down if need be."

"Okay. Let me get back into position and then we can start."

"Right. You ready to go one more round today girl," I said, looking at Tigra. She gave a single grunt that let me know she was ready.

"Good. This one is going to be a pain. I can already tell."

As Ruby made it back to her starting position, I got myself mentally ready to take the big hit that this pig was going to give me. His size wasn't just for show. He was carrying around some serious power in those legs of his. He was a powerhouse and he very much knew it. I looked back to Ruby and she gave me the nod to let me know she was ready. I nodded and moved to get his attention. I stepped out into the clearing, sword already in my hand and giant tiger hybrid right behind me. The pig saw us immediately and turned to face us. He let out a very loud growl. He wasn't here to play games. He was very mad and he didn't want us anywhere near him. I knew he was seriously mad and Tigra knew it too. But she didn't let her fear show, just like me. I raised my sword into a blocking stance and Tigra let out a resounding roar, to let this guy know that we weren't playing games here either. The pig slightly lowered its head as it got ready for the charge. I looked behind him to see Ruby with her hand on her scythe, ready to strike at a moments notice. I took a deep breath and got ready for the strongest Grimm I've ever fought on a hunting trip. This was the kind of beast I went after for bounties, not just for recreational hunting trips with my family.

The Borbatusk started charging me with everything he had. He was faster than the other one. A fact that became very clear right from the start. The speed at which he closed the gap was astounding. He slammed into my sword with so much force that I was surprised he didn't know me over. Then I felt a push on my back. It was Tigra. She was trying to help me stop the pig. I always thought she would've been pushing against him instead of me but I guess that works too. As the pig almost came to a complete stop I turned my sword ever so slightly to the right to make him turn so that Ruby could go in for the kill shot.

"NOW!," I shouted to her as the pig turned.

In what looked like a blur Ruby was already at the alpha pig with her scythe fully extended and already swinging up to deliver the kill shot. Her scythe penetrated deep in the pig and it let out a ear piercing scream. But it didn't die. Caught off guard, the pig kicked Ruby with enough force to knock down one of the trees in the surrounding area. She flew back about 10 feet before dropping to the ground unconscious.

"NO!," I screamed. With a new found strength that I didn't know I had, I pushed the Borbatusk back hard enough that its front half got raised up into the air. In one fluid motion I moved under the pig and thrust my sword just above its ribs and into its esophagus. It let out a choked cry of pain as I swung my sword down its body as hard as I possibly could. Cutting the animal clean open it fell to the ground and bled out in a matter of seconds. As I looked and the newly dead body I saw why it didn't die when Ruby hit it. She missed its heart. She struck to the side of it and hit it's left lung. At that thought I remembered that Ruby was laying on the ground a few feet away. I dropped my sword and rushed to her side. She was just waking up when I knelt down next to her.

"Ruby! Are you hurt? Is anything broken?"

She tried to sit up and grabbed her side and fell back to the ground.

"Ruby!"

"Uh, it really hurts Raven."

"Move your hand. Let me see," I said as I gently lifted her hand. It was covered in blood. Dammit, exactly what I didn't want to happen.

"OWW! It hurts so badly Raven!"

"It's okay Ruby. It's not as bad as it seems. He cut you deep but didn't damage anything important. You're going to be fine. If we get back to the house I can get you cleaned up and back on your feet in no time.

"Then can we do that? This hurts so much."

"Of course. But I can't carry you. We have two dead pigs here and there's only three of us. Me and Tigra can drag the pigs back to the house but you're going to have to walk back on you're own."

"Okay. But can we take it slow?"

"There's no other pace that we would be able to go. These things are heavier than they look."

"Good. Ugh, I really didn't expect this to happen."

"I told you. It looks simple, but its hard to master."

"Yeah. I'll keep that in mind for next time."

"Yeah that's probably a good idea. Now come on, we gotta get back. It's getting dark and we're in no shape to be fighting at night time."

"Got it," she said as she slowly got to her feet.

"Okay, keep pressure on the cut. We don't want you losing too much blood on the trip back. Tigra, grab the big one. You're stronger than me and we have a long way to go." The big cat grabbed the alpha pig by one of its tusks and started pulling in the direction of the house. I went over to the smaller Borbatusk and grabbed it by his tusks and did the same.

"Raven, your sword."

I turned around to see Ruby holding my sword in her hand.

"Oh. I forgot about it. Thanks Ruby," I said as I took it and sheathed it.

"No problem. Now let's go. I don't want to stay out here any longer than we have to."

"Yeah I'll second you on that one."

The trip back was filled mostly with silence and grunts of struggle while we pulled these beasts back to the house. They were much heavier than they seemed. To top that off they smelled like an Ursa took a poop in the forest, ate it, and then pooped it out again. They were the worst smelling beasts in the kingdom.

Finally, we got back home. It was pitch black outside and we were all incredibly tired. Tigra and I dropped the pigs in front of the house. I looked at Ruby, who had started trailing behind about the last half mile back to the house. She was exhausted and she was also a little pale. Neither of which were a good sign.

"Alright. Let's get you inside and cleaned up."

"Okay."

We went inside and I pulled out a chair in the kitchen.

"Sit," I said as I placed it down and immediately went for the first aid kit in the bathroom. I came back out and she was sitting in the chair with her hand still on her cut.

"Alright Ruby, you're going to have to take your hand away."

She moved her hand to expose the mostly sealed wound on her side. I got a wet rag and started wiping away all of the dried blood to get a better look at this wound. There was still too much of her clothes in the way to see anything.

"Alright sweetie, the shirt has to come off."

She silently took her shirt off, whimpering in pain while she did so. But it revealed the wound much better and gave me more room to work with. I finished cleaning up all the dried blood and got to see how deep the cut actually was. It was less than a quarter of an inch deep, which was a relief in itself. I went into the first aid kit and get the antiseptic cream. I squeezed out a generous amount onto my index and middle fingers.

"Okay. This is only going to sting a lot."

I started spreading it around her wound but didn't get very far since she yelped and cried out in pain the second it touched the cut.

"Come on honey. I know it hurts, but I have to do this."

She reluctantly sat back down. I continued to spread the rest of the antiseptic and started to rub her back while doing so.

"AAHHH!," she cried.

"I know baby. It's almost over."

"Hurry up, please. I can't take much more of this."

I finished up quickly and checked to make sure I didn't miss anywhere. It wasn't a really deep cut but it was a long one. It was almost six inches long. Surprisingly long for a cut on the side of the body. But regardless I got all of it. Much to both my relief, but even more to the relief of the crimson kitten sitting in front of me, dealing with the excruciating pain that came with cleaning a wound. With it thoroughly cleaned, I got out the bandages from the first aid kit. I wrapped her up, going all around her waist area and completely covering the wound.

"There. All done. Now that wasn't so bad, was it?", I asked, jokingly.

Oh boy, if looks could kill. The face that she gave me when I asked that would've dropped me dead right then and there.

"Okay, I get it. Not in a joking mood. I understand and respect that. Let me put this stuff away and you can get a shower if you want."

"Actually I think I'm going to bed. That took more out of me than I thought it would."

"Okay. Get some rest. We can have some pig tomorrow for breakfast and then I'll get my paycheck and we can go shopping."  
"Ugh, you know how much I hate shopping."  
"Yes, I do know. But I have a special surprise for you tomorrow that I think you'll really like."  
"Oh really?"  
"Absolutely. Need get some shut eye. I"ve got some pigs to cut up and clean."

"Hey, you don't have to tell me twice. Goodnight,"

"Goodnight my kitten."

With that, she climbed the stairs to her room. I looked around the house and took in the silence. It was great to be back home. Now there was only one thing left to do. Cut up some pigs, put the cuts in the freezer, keep the tusks to sell to some poor guy that's going to pay me more than he wants to for them, and show my special surprise to Ruby tomorrow. All in all, I think tomorrow is going to be a good day.


	5. Chapter 5

I woke up and looked around me. Not remembering when or where I fell asleep last night, I was totally disoriented. As I looked around the room I very quickly remembered where I was. I fell asleep in my reading chair last night. I continued to look around the room and saw Tigra laying on the rug in front of the fireplace. The fire was almost completely out. It was at a low smolder at this point, but the house wasn't really cold at all.

 _Mmm, what time is it,_ I thought as I looked at the clock. The plain wall clock that hung above the mantle of the fireplace read 7:00 a.m.

 _Only 7? I'm definitely going back to sleep,_ I thought to myself. But that was interrupted by an all too familiar voice.

"Oh, you're awake. Good."

I opened one eye to see my niece standing on the steps, looking at me with a still tired expression on her face. I closed my eye, "Yeah, but not for long."

"But we have stuff to do today. You said so yourself last night."

Wanting to change the subject I asked, "How is your wound doing? Are you feeling any better today?"

"Yup. Feeling totally better today." Definitely not what I wanted to hear right now.

"Hmm. That's good. Give me like two more hours and we'll get up and go do everything today. I'm still really tired."

"Okay. I'll be in my room then."

"Sounds good."

Two hours passed quicker than I wanted them to. It felt like the second I closed my eyes Ruby was standing in front of me again telling me to get up.

"It's already 9 o'clock Raven. We have to get our stuff done today. You said that you had a surprise for me today."

"Oh yeah. I did say that, didn't I?"

"Uh, yeah. You did."

"Alright, alright. I'm up. Give me some time to get ready."

My body still ached from the fights that took place yesterday. But a quick stretch took care of most of that. I went to my room on the first floor and got on my regular going out outfit. My black boots with red straps and laces. My black and red blouse and my medium length red and black skirt. _Wow. I should really think about diversifying my wardrobe._ Most of what I had in my wardrobe was black, red, or a mixture of the two. Regardless, I had on my clothes and went to the bathroom to freshen myself up. After everything was all done I came out to find Ruby laying across the couch on her Scroll and the big cat moved to take my spot in my chair.

"Alright. We ready to go?"

"Yup. I was waiting on you, after all."

"Yeah well don't forget you got quite some more rest than I did last night. Now, let's go."

Tigra jumped up to join us in our excursion. "Sorry girl, you can't come with us. We're going into town."

She yawned, stretched, and got onto the couch and laid down again. I've taken her into town before but the reactions I got from the people were very clear that they didn't like the thought of a Grimm, domesticated or not, walking around the city. Perfectly understandable, but still, I would like to take her out for more than just hunting and killing other Grimm.

As we made it to town Ruby spoke up, "So, what's the first stop on our list?"

"First, we're going to the city hall and getting my paycheck for my last mission. We're not doing anything without that. Then we'll be going to the market to sell these tusks that we got last night. After that we'll be going on our shopping spree."

"Sounds long and boring."

"Hey, if you want to, you can go back to the house. Won't make a difference to me."

"I'm just along for the ride right now. Are we going to the mall sometime today?"

"That's our last stop. Why?"

"I want to get a little present for Tigra."

"And what might that present be?"

"I'm not telling. You'll have to wait until we get back to the house to see it."

"Whatever you say child. Let's get going. We're wasting daylight."

We made our way to the city hall to get my money. It was crowded with other huntsmen and huntresses. It seemed to be pay day for a lot of others besides me. There were some huntsman that I recognized and some new faces that I've never seen before. We made our way to the main desk. The man at the front desk looked up as I approached. He was a younger guy, probably in his mid to late 20's. He had short blonde hair and dark brown eyes. An odd combination by my standards, but I wasn't one to talk, having black hair and red eyes.

"Name please?", he asked in a monotone voice.

"Raven Branwen."

"Okay. Give me one second", he said as he entered my name into his computer. "Ah, yes, Ms. Branwen. What was your mission?"

"Taking out a pack of Beowolves that were getting too close to the walls for the comfort of the guards."

"Yes. That's the one. May I see your I.D. please?"

I took out my Scroll and placed it in front of a scanner that was sat on top of the desk. The scanner beeped when it was finished.

"Thank you. Your payment is being transferred to your Scroll now. Have a nice day Ms. Branwen."

"Thank you, sir," I said, as I turned around. "Come on, Ruby."

"Right behind you."

We then made our way to the local market that, thankfully, wasn't as crowded as the city hall was. We went over to the Grimm souvenir merchant. He was shouting some nonsense about getting the stuff now before it's all gone. As I approached he spotted me and turned his full attention to me. He was a short, fat man. But he seemed to be very nice on the outside. Surely that was only a front to get people to buy more from him. He had slick, black hair and a full beard of the same dark color.

"What can I do for you my lovely lady? I have only the finest Grimm souvenirs you will find in the kingdom."

"I'm not here to buy. I'm here to sell. I have some interesting pieces that I think you'd like to have in your collection."

"Is that so? Well, let's see them."

I reached into the nap-sack that I had with me and took all four of the tusks I had acquired last night. I set them on the table that was in front of me and just let him look them over.

"My, my. These are very nice pieces. How did you acquire such fine tusks?"

"I'm a huntress in my spare time."

"Ah, of course. And how did a beautiful woman such as yourself get into the dirty business of being a huntress?"

"Its been in my family for generations. I'm actually a fifth generation huntsman. My great grandparents fought in the Great War. But enough about me. Let's negotiate prices about these tusks. I'm kind of busy today."

"Ah, I understand. Well, looking at how well the condition that these are in, I'd say you got these fairly recently."

"Just last night, actually."

"Well, that is most certainly recent. How is this offer? I'll give you 200 Lien for these smaller tusks and 500 Lien for these bigger tusks."  
That was a good deal. But I was pretty certain that I could get a little bit more than that for these tusks.

"I think you can go a little higher than that, my friend. How about 350 for the small ones and 600 for the larger tusks?"

"Hmm, you drive a hard bargain, miss. How's this? 300 for the small tusks and 550 for the larger ones?"

That was a much better deal than his original. He must've really wanted these tusks.

"Okay. I think that's a fair deal."

"Excellent. Thank you for bringing me these fine tusks. I'll be able to turn a fine profit from these tusks."

"I'm sure you will," I said, as he handed me my payment.

I turned around to see that Ruby was gone from my side. _Great. Now where did she go?_ I scanned the crowd and saw her at the weapons stand. _Of course you would go over there._ I walked over and found her looking wide eyed at all the different dust powered weapons the weapons smith had on display.

"Are you ready to go kid?"

"Raven, I need more dust rounds for my scythe. I'm running low."

I sighed and looked at the smith, "How much for a case of high impact rounds?"

He was a tall, burly man with a shaved head. He had a stern look on his face.

"For today only, they're on sale. 250 for a large case of high impact dust rounds."

I looked at Ruby, "You're lucky I like you." I handed the smith the money and he gave the case to Ruby.

"Thank you, sir!", she called back to the smith as we walked away.

"Alright. you have your ammo. Put it in your bag before we go anywhere. We're heading to the mall now. We have to get food for the house. After that, I'll be showing you the surprise I have for you."

She put the bullets into her bag, "Sounds good to me."

We got to the mall and went immediately to the food store. We loaded up the shopping cart with everything we needed, and some stuff that we didn't really need that was selected by a particular Rose. Once everything was loaded into the car, we went back into the mall.

"Now, time for what I have planned for you. We're going to the clothing store."

"Ugh, you know I hate shopping for clothes."

"I didn't say they were for you. It's a surprise because I'm pretty sure you'll like what it is."

"Okay. As long we're not shopping for me."

We made our way into the store and towards the back. There was a desk labeled "Custom Orders and Returns" there.

I turned around and told Ruby, "Stay right here. I don't want you to see it yet."

"Okay," she said.

I went over to the desk and looked at the lady behind the counter. She was a younger girl, probably in her early 20's with long blonde hair and genuine happy demeanor.

"Hello ma'am. How may I help you today?"

"Hello. I have a custom order for Raven Branwen here. I was wondering if it came in today."

"Okay. Just give me one second. Ah, yes. A custom made reversible cloak. Is that correct?"

"Yup. That's the one."

"Okay. Just one moment. I'll go and get it for you." She disappeared into the back and came back, carrying my cloak, neatly folded up. "Here you are ma'am. Your total for the cloak is 500 Lien."

I held my Scroll up to the scanner on the desk to pay for the cloak. The scanner beeped.

"Thank you for shopping with us and have a nice day."

"Thanks. You have a good one too." I unfolded the cloak and held it up to check that is was correct. It was more than correct. It was perfect. Exactly what I ordered. I already knew how it was supposed to look before but this was better than I expected it to be. It was a cloak that was red on one side with a black Rose family symbol and black on the other side with a red Rose family symbol. I mostly got it in memory of Summer but I also got it to make Ruby happy and show her that I'll always be there for her, even when I'm not physically with her.

"Ruby. Come here. I got it."

She walked around a clothes rack and her eyes grew wider than I've seen them before.

"Raven," she took a long pause. "It's amazing! I love it! It looks so good."

I got a big smile on my face, "I knew you'd like it. It's even got the family symbol on it so everyone knows what team we're really fighting for."

"Oh my gosh. It looks so great. Put it on. Let's see how it looks when you put it on."

I quickly put it around my neck and fastened the golden chain that held it up. I did a full turn around and the smile that was on Ruby's face was the happiest I've seen her in a long time.

"This was what all the fuss was about yesterday Ruby," I said, as I finished my turn around.

"It looks so good on you, Raven. Can I go get Tigra's present now?"

"Go ahead. I'm assuming it's in the pet shop?"

"Yup. Don't come in after me. Remember, it's a surprise for both of you."

"Alright, I won't go in with you."

I waited outside the shop for probably about 10 minutes while she was in there getting whatever it was for Tigra. She came out of the shop with a big smile on her face.

"Alright. I'm sure she's going to love it."

"Good. Now let's get back to the house and put this food away."

"Okay. Let's go."


	6. Chapter 6

We got back to the house and Ruby jumped out of the car as soon as we stopped and she ran up to the house.

"Wait just a second there little missy. You're going to help me carry all these groceries in first. Then you can give Tigra her present."

"Can't I give it to her first?"  
"No. She can live without it for a little bit longer."

"Fine," she said, and came back and grabbed the remaining bags that I didn't already get.

I opened the door and was greeted by my giant tiger immediately sniffing as many bags as she could before I put them on the table.

"Guess what girl," I said to Tigra. She cocked her head to one side. "Ruby has something for you," I said pointing to Ruby. Tigra made her way over to Ruby. Ruby took her bag off of her back and pulled out a big collar.

"Look what I got for you Tigra. It's a brand new collar. I hope you like it." Tigra started sniffing the collar that Ruby was holding in front of her and then started to rub her head against Ruby's leg when she accepted the collar.

"Well, at least we know she likes it," I said.

"I knew she would like it," she said, as she put Tigra's new collar on. She started purring very loudly, like she always did when she got something new.

"Alright, who's hungry?"

"I definitely am. We haven't eaten anything all day."

"I know. I just wanted to get everything done and out of the way early so we could sit back and relax for the rest of the day."

"Well we did everything. Now let's eat."

"That's a deal. How about you put the stuff away and I'll get started on the food? We'll have some of the pigs from yesterday."

"As long as they don't stink as bad as they did yesterday I don't care what we eat."

"They won't. That's only their fur on the outside."

"Good."

She got to putting everything away and I got the cuts of the Borbatusks out of the refrigerator. We maneuvered around each other seamlessly. It was our regular routine. Whenever we went out shopping, Ruby would always put the food away and I would always start on the food. It worked for us for years and it still does.

The next half hour went by pretty uneventful with the exception of some small talk and a certain tiger being very nosey with the unprepared food. A pretty basic meal but one that Ruby and I liked regardless. Ham with some mashed potatoes. Once the food was ready we sat down at the table and I tossed Tigra a particularly large cut of the pig. _That should keep her quiet for a while._ After everyone was done Ruby went to the cabinet to get her selection of cookies, Tigra got a leg bone, I finished the dishes and sat down to enjoy a good portion of my book. Today was definitely turning out to be a good day.

Then, out of nowhere, Tigra let out a very audible growl. I lowered my book, "What's your problem?" She got up and was staring at the door and very slowly moving towards it. Both me and Ruby turned our attention to the front door. I got up and walked toward the door, keeping an eye on Tigra to make sure she wouldn't pounce on our unexpected guest.

"You stay right there, Tigra," I said, as I got to the front door. I opened the door, definitely not expecting to see a bloody teenager standing in front of my door. He was a young teenager, around 17 years old with long black hair with a single streak of pink going down the front. He had a green oriental style shirt and plain white pants on.

"Who is it?", Ruby asked, as she came to the door. Before I could stop her, she was at my side, frozen in shock as she saw the blood all over this young boy.

He looked at her. "Ruby? I found you," he said, in a barely audible voice. That's when I stepped in.

"Hold on a second. First of all, who are you? And second, you know this kid Ruby?"

"I've never seen him before in my life," she said, not taking her eyes away from this mysterious boy.

"But Ruby, we've been together for over 2 years," he said.

"I'm sorry," she said. "But you must have the wrong Ruby in mind."

"I don't know who you are or why you're here. But you better leave pretty damn soon, or there's going to be some serious consequences," I said to him.

"But I just got here. You're going to kick me out already?"

"Yeah I am, because I don't know who you are. And quite frankly, I really don't care who you are."

"Then allow me to introduce myself. My name is Lie Ren. I'm a student at Beacon Academy, and Ruby is my girlfriend over 2 years already."

 _A student a Beacon? But why is he here? Ruby has never even been inside Beacon once, let alone study any classes there._

"Well Lie Ren, you better get back to Beacon and treated for your wounds. Ruby here has never even been inside Beacon once so there's no way that you two could've been together for over 2 years now."

He looked at Ruby, "Ruby. It's me. Come back to Beacon with me. The mission is over. We need to get back and report back to Professor Ozpin."

Now I was getting worried. He was just on a mission. If that's true, then where are the rest of his teammates. Hopefully they're not dead. They probably got separated. But still, what mission did they do that was this close to my house? It was becoming clear that something not quite right was going on here. I needed answers, and it was becoming very clear that I wasn't going to get them from this guy.

"Alright boy. You better start giving me some answers real soon before my patience runs out."

"Okay. What do you want to know?" It was obvious that he was starting to suffer from blood loss. He starting swaying on his feet and he was starting to get very pale. As I was about to ask him my first question he collapsed. Moving on pure instinct I caught him before he hit the ground. Ruby moved to catch him as well but saw that I already had him before she was even able to move. Tigra came over to sniff him. She growled at the unfamiliar person, "Stop that!", I snapped at her. She lowered her head and went and laid down by the fireplace, not taking her eyes off of him. Thinking on the fly I figured that he needed immediate medical attention but that he wouldn't make it to the hospital.

"Ruby, get a sheet from the laundry room and put it on the couch." She didn't move. She was just staring at this new person and was totally lost.

"Ruby!", I shouted, snapping her back to reality.

"Huh?"

"Get a sheet from the laundry room and put it over the couch. He needs medical attention now and he won't make it to the hospital like this."

"Right," she said, as she ran off to the laundry room. I picked him up and carried him to the living room. Ruby was already draping the sheet over the couch by the time I got there. I set him down on the couch and took a look to see where he was hurt. He was bleeding in multiple areas. Mostly his arms and chest had some cuts on them and he had a pretty bad wound on the back of his head. Luckily whatever hit he took didn't fracture his skull. I could treat many things, but that's not one of them. I cleaned him up as much as I could and wrapped up his wounds. I would've tried to ask him more questions but he was already passed out from the loss of blood.


	7. Chapter 7

I sat awake all night long, watching this kid that was passed out on my couch. I sent Ruby up to her room but I doubt that she was sleeping. I read my book for most of the night, listening very closely for any sign that this kid was waking up. I didn't get anything. Tigra also didn't get any sleep that night either. She was keeping watch on the new person. She sat like a statue all night long, just watching him. As dawn came to, so did our unexpected guest. I didn't avert my gaze from my book, mostly because I was at a good part, but also because I knew he wasn't going anywhere. He sat up and looked around the room.

"Welcome back to the world of the living," I said, without removing my eyes from my book.

"What's going on? Where's Ruby?"

"Ruby is up in her room, exactly where I told her to go. As for what's going on, I was going to ask you the same question."

"I need to see Ruby right now," he said, as he went to get up. He stopped when he felt a sharp blade at his throat and a giant tiger standing in front of him. My eyes were still in my book but my hand was holding my sword to him.

"You're not going to see anything or anyone unless I say you can. Also, my cat here is hungry from watching you all night. So piss me off enough and you'll become a quick snack for her."

He sat back down slowly, keeping an eye on Tigra more than me. _Smart kid_ , I thought.

"Now, I'm going to ask you some questions, and you're going to answer me. If not, you'll become that early morning snack that I mentioned before."

"Okay. What do you want to know?" He seemed to be calmed down a little bit more now than he was yesterday.

"Let's start at square one I guess. Who are you and what are you doing here?"

He cleared his throat and began, "My name is Lie Ren. I'm a student at Beacon Academy and a part of team JNPR with my teammates Jaune Arc, Pyrrha Nikos, myself, and Ruby Nightblade. We were on a secret mission, doing recon on a possible White Fang hideout. Our headmaster, Professor Ozpin, gave us this mission personally. He said that he didn't want to send established huntsmen on a mission that could possibly be a fake lead, since we had so few huntsmen in and around the area. He said he wanted to keep them for the more important missions. He also gave us orders not to engage the enemy unless they try to engage us first. It was pretty simple at first. We got there and didn't see anything at first. But our leader said we should probably wait around for a while and see if anything happens. So we all got into hiding places and kept watch over the facility. Nothing happened for a while. After probably 2 hours of nothing it was getting dark. That's when we saw the lights go on in the building. It drew our attention and we missed one crucial thing that we didn't realize until it was too late. The team of stealth operatives that snuck up behind us. It was a hard fought battle but we eventually got out of there. We split into two 2-man teams. Jaune and Pyrrha retreated while me and Ruby ran in a different direction. Then after that, I don't remember anything."

So much information. So many more questions. But I knew I wasn't going to get any more answers from this one. I needed to talk to Ozpin myself.

"So you have no recollection of how you sustained your injuries?"

"Aside from a few cuts and bruises, no."

"I see. Well, I'm going to have a talk with Ozpin myself. In the meantime, you're going to the hospital to get treated properly for you injuries by professionals. Also, about this Ruby that you're talking about. The Ruby that lives here is named Ruby Rose. I don't know how your Ruby looked but I can assure you, this Ruby is not the one you're looking for." He didn't say anything when I told him that. He just looked down at the ground in defeat. Seeing a young boy in love like this made me feel slightly sorry for him.

Just as I was about to say something else to him he started to have a coughing fit. He covered his mouth with his hand so I thought it was just a normal cough. But when he pulled his hand away, I saw that it was covered in blood. _Damn. He got hurt worse than I thought._ Just then I heard a gasp coming from the stairs. My shot over to see Ruby with her hand over her mouth, staring in abject horror at the sight she saw before her. _And of course. She has to be right there._

"Alright. You need to get to the hospital faster than I thought. Ruby, Tigra. Let's go. In the car." I picked up Lie Ren and carried him to the car, right behind Ruby and Tigra. I opened the back door for Tigra to hop in first. Then I placed the boy in the seat next to her.

"You keep an eye on him, okay?", I asked, looking at Tigra. She nodded, telling me she understood. He may have been dying, but I still didn't trust him. Ruby kept watch on him as well the whole way to the hospital. The coughing didn't stop. If anything, it was getting worse. I drove us to the hospital as fast as I could while still slightly obeying the traffic laws. We pulled into the hospital parking lot and found a spot right up front. _Lucky me,_ I thought as we came to a stop. We got out and I carried him into the hospital. He was weak and he was getting cold. _This isn't good._ With Ruby and Tigra right behind me, we made our way into the hospital. Luckily a doctor was pretty close to the door. He looked over and saw us, but more than that, he saw Tigra. That put into a panic.

"Why is a Grimm in here?"

"Relax Doc. She's with me. But don't worry about her. Worry about this kid I have in my arms right now."Just then, he realized that I was holding Ren in my arms.

"Oh my gosh. What happened to him?"

"I'm not entirely sure we have time for that right now. He just started coughing up blood a few minutes ago. Get him some help first and then we'll talk."

"Uh, yes. Of course." He went to the front desk and rung over the intercom system, asking for all available nurses to get to the front immediately. Within seconds, three nurses were already at the front, taking the boy out of my arms and putting him on a stretcher and taking to the nearest ER. With that out of the way, and with some new blood on my shirt that wasn't there before, the doctor asked me what happened once more. I explained that he was on a mission and how he appeared at my door out of nowhere. I told him how I treated his wounds on the surface, but that I think there's probably some internal damage that was done. He thanked me for my time and hurried off to the ER to assist the nurses. I turned and went over to one of the nearby seats, and dropped into it with a sigh. I looked up to see Ruby standing in front of me with the same look she used to give me when she would sleep with me years ago because she had a bad dream.

"Do you think he's going to be okay Raven?"

"Of course. He's in the hands of professionals now. He'll be just fine." As much as I wanted that to put Ruby at ease, I was slightly doubting it myself. We waited around for what seemed like a very long time. But in reality, it was only about an hour. The doctor came out to us and told us, "Well I have good news and somewhat bad news. Which would prefer to hear first?"

"Give us the good first. We could use some positivity after everything that's transpired after today."

"Good word miss. Well the good news is that he's going to be fine. He's asleep now, which is a good thing, because that means that his body has gone into a repairing state. So he'll heal quicker now."

"So what's the bad," I asked, somewhat dreading the answer.

"The bad news is that his lung collapsed, and that's what caused the coughing up blood to happen. He's very lucky that you got him here when you did. Otherwise he wouldn't of lasted much longer. But we got it back up we have him on a breathing assistant right now, just to make sure that it doesn't happen again."

"Well, I guess that's better than other bad news you give to a lot of people."

"Unfortunately, yes it is."

"Can we see him?", Ruby asked from behind me.

"Well I wouldn't see why not. He's sleeping, but you can still go and see him if you want to."

Ruby hurried by me towards the room. "Go with her Tigra," I told her. She took off after Ruby.

"Ma'am-"

"Please, call me Raven."

"Uh, Raven. You really shouldn't have that Grimm in here. It could cause panic among the other patients and their families."

"That Grimm is more domesticated than most other common house pets. She obeys every command I give her without question. She's as much a part off me as my own heart. She doesn't attack anyone or anything without my approval. So if any of the other patients have a problem with that, they can take it up with me. And don't worry, she's house broken."

"Well, I understand that she's very well trained, but it's against hospital rules as well. There are to be no pets, Grimm or otherwise, allowed in the hospital except for guide animals."

"Well doc, unless you can forcibly remove that big cat there, she's not moving from that girl's side. She'll protect her with her life without a second thought. And I highly doubt that there's going to be any type of attack on the hospital, so she won't be roaming the halls. She also listens to my niece perfectly as well, so she'll be kept under control for the duration of her stay here." With that, I walked past the doctor, and into the room where Ruby was sitting by the boy's bedside. Tigra was sitting right next to her, eyes fixed on the boy that lay in the bed in front of her.

"Hey. I'm gonna head home and grab some clothes and get changed. You should come with me. Let's give him some rest to himself."

"But what if something happens to him?", she asked.

I pointed at the monitor next to his bed, "You see that? If anything happens, that machine will tell everyone in the hospital that he needs help. They'll get here within seconds of that thing going off to help him. So trust me, he's in good hands with these people."

"Okay. I just don't like the thought of leaving him in this room by himself."

"I told you, he'll be fine. Now let's go home and get changed out of these bloody clothes. After that, we're going to go to Beacon Academy. I'm going to get some more answers from the headmaster there."

"Okay."

"Let's go Tigra." The big cat followed us out to the car.

The drive home was filled with nothing but silence, which didn't bother me at all, because my mind was filled with questions I had for Ozpin. We reached the house and Ruby into the house silently, followed by Tigra. She went straight to her room and got changed. I went into my room and picked out another assortment of similarly colored clothes I already had on. When we were all changed and back in the living room, I asked Ruby, "You ready to go?"

"I guess so," she said, dryly.

"Alright. Let's go. Sorry Tigra. You can't come with us this time. girl" She let out a whimper and got into my chair and laid down. We got back into the car and there was only one thought in my mind. _Time to see my old teammate once more._


	8. Chapter 8

The drive to the Academy took longer than I would've liked it too, but it was filled with questions from Ruby about Beacon, Ren, and about how I knew this mysterious Professor Ozpin. The last one was the simplest one to answer, but it was also the longest. I guess the best place to start would be from the beginning. I was once a student at Beacon not so long ago. I had many friends, but I also had some of my family there. More specifically, Summer, my half sister. We had the same mother, but different fathers. Our parents were all huntsmen. Our mother was a long time huntress for many years, both before and after having us. The two fathers we had were also huntsmen. My father was a veteran huntsman for many years. He's done just about every mission possible. But on his last mission, he died saving a village from a massive pack of rabid Beowolves. Needless to say, he died a very horrific death, but he did die as a hero. Summer's father on the other hand, was not as experienced as my father but he was still a very good huntsman. To top it off, he was a Faunus. In a time where human-Faunus relationships were heavily frowned upon, they both persevered through it, and my younger sister Summer was the result. I didn't look at her any differently than I did with anyone else. She was my sister. It didn't matter to me that she was a Faunus. Luckily for us, we were all grown up and out of the house before both our parents were tragically killed in an ambush during a simple escort mission. It put me and Summer into despair. If we didn't have each other to get through that hard time, I probably wouldn't be where I am right now, and I wouldn't have Ruby to give me a definitive purpose in life. The team that I was a part of during my time at Beacon was codenamed SORT. It consisted of Summer, Ozpin, myself, and Taiyang, Summer's future husband, and the father of my wonderful niece Ruby and her half sister, Yang. We were among the best teams at Beacon, if not, the best team at Beacon. Summer and Taiyang had a thing going on between each other almost from the very start. Ozpin and I developed feelings for each other a little later, but it didn't get very far, unfortunately. We worked together on missions for a while, but after an injury that Ozpin sustained while in the field one day made it almost impossible for him to continue his career as a huntsman. So he took up a teaching job at Beacon. He was a great teacher, loved by all of his students. Eventually, when the last headmaster of Beacon stepped down, It was put up to a vote as to who the next headmaster would be. The vote was almost unanimous. Everyone voted for Ozpin. They all thought that he was by far, the best candidate for headmaster. He graciously accepted the title of headmaster, and the responsibility of owning and running one of the most prestigious huntsmen training academies on all of Remnant. We kept in contact for a while after that, but it became clear that Ozpin was becoming a different man than I knew him before. It was hard to describe, and it still is, but he was just different in more ways than one. He wasn't the man that I fell in love with all those years ago. But he wasn't the only person that had changed in that time.

Finally, we were at Beacon. As I stepped out of the car, I couldn't help but realize that much really hasn't changed since the last time I was here. If that was true, then I knew exactly how to get to Ozpin's office. I walked quickly, Ruby struggling to keep up since she was trying to take in the grand scale of Beacon. This place will one day be her home. But she has a long way to go before that happens. We got in the elevator that was at the center of the main building and rode it straight up to his office. Once the doors opened, I saw Ozpin standing if front of his big window, that doubled as the clock face for the clock tower that his office was in the middle of. Despite that fact, his office was extremely sparse, only with his desk and a few pillars lining the walls.

"Welcome Raven. It's been some time since last we met.", I could hear the stress and nervousness in his voice. He knew that my being here wasn't just for a friendly visit.

"It has been quite a while, hasn't it? But I'm assuming that you know I'm not here just to make small talk."

"Indeed. I know you're presence means that something significant has happened, and you feel like I'll have the answers. I also have a strong feeling that I wasn't your first choice for answers. Would I be correct in asking this?"

"Mostly. You weren't my first choice for answers. You were my only choice." He turned around from looking out of his window. He looked like he didn't age at all since the last time I saw him. He always had that shiny silver hair on top of his head, and those same stupid glasses on his face. This was the Oz that I've known for years.

"Really? For you to only come to me before anyone else, I'm assuming it has something to do with my school. Would it be to enroll that cute girl behind you?" I just remembered that Ruby was with me. I looked down to see her staring at Ozpin while hiding behind me. I looked back to Ozpin, "No. We had a bit of an issue the other day. One of your students randomly showed up at my door, covered in injuries and blood, saying that Ruby here was his girlfriend of more than 2 years. This girl has never had a boyfriend for more than 4 months in her life. With you being the headmaster of this school, I knew that you would have some answers, and I've come to have them answered." He looked down and turned back to his window.

"Indeed I know the student that you're talking about. A young mister Lie Ren. Tell me what he told you, so I can give you as much information as possible." I told him everything that I knew of this boy. I also told him that he was currently admitted to the local hospital, recovering from his injuries.

"I see. So what I thought was true. He still hasn't gotten over her…", he trailed off.

"Hasn't gotten over who, Ozpin?"

"It is true that Ren had a girlfriend for quite some time. She had a striking similarity to that young girl you have with you. Speaking of which, she seems familiar for another reason. A cat Faunus. Who is this child Raven?"

"Does the last name Rose bring back any memories?"

A look of both shock and surprise came to his face. "It can't be. Is that Summer's little girl?"

I nodded, "Yup. This is Ruby. The second of Summer's children. The first is Yang Xiao Long. But she's living with Tai these days."

"So Tai is still alive. How has he dealt with the loss of both of his wives?"

"Terribly. But he stays strong for his girls. They're all he has left. But enough about old teammates. Tell me more about this girl that somehow looks just like Ruby."

"Of course. Her name was Ruby Nightblade. She was a third year, just like Ren. But above all else, she did look almost exactly like your Ruby. But that's not why Mr. Lie mistook her for his lover. During their mission, team JNPR was ambushed by a team of stealth soldiers from the White Fang. Two of the members, the leader, Jaune Arc, and Pyrrha Nikos got away mostly unharmed. However, Ren and Ruby were not so lucky. When Ren got knocked unconscious, reports we got from a captured member of the stealth team said that Ruby was surrounded by stealth members. She stayed to protect Ren. It's with a heavy heart that I have to inform you that she died trying to protect him. The stealth members saw that Ren was still alive, so they captured him, and held him prisoner. Remarkably, Ren escaped, but not after a hard fought battle to get out of there."

"Okay. But that doesn't explain why he thought that my Ruby was his Ruby."

"I was going to answer that question next. From what you've explained, it sounds as if Ren is suffering from some form of amnesia. Most likely caused by the hit to his head."

I was left speechless. For the first time in my life, I didn't know what to say. I almost killed this kid multiple times due to the fact that he lost his memory.

"I really don't know what to say Oz. I almost killed this kid multiple times because I thought he was going to be a threat. I feel terrible now."

"It's not your fault Raven. You didn't know, therefore you shouldn't blame yourself. The only thing I regret is that he will have to be informed and go through that trauma again. It's not going to be easy for anyone to tell him that."

The room was filled with silence for what seemed like forever, but in reality was only a few seconds. Then Ruby spoke up," I think I know how to tell him." Both Ozpin and I turned our attention her.

"What's your idea, Ruby?", I asked her.

"Well, it might not be what he wants to hear, but it might let him move on. He mistook me for his Ruby so I must look like her obviously, right? So my idea is that I go to him and explain what happened. I could pose as a ghost and give him the goodbye that he deserves."

That was the most profound thing that I've heard come from this girl. It would be emotional, but it seemed like the nicest way to do it. "Well I don't have any better ideas. What about you Oz?", I asked.

"It may be a lie, but it seems to be the only thing we can do now."

"It's decided then. We go through with Ruby's plan."

"There's only one thing that I need. I need an outfit that she used to wear. That's the only way this is guaranteed to work," Ruby said.

"Of course. I can have the other members of the team bring us some clothing for you to choose from," Ozpin said.

"That'll work nicely. I also want to get their input on what happened," she said.

Ozpin contacted the leader of team JNPR and asked them both to report to his office along with an outfit that their Ruby used to wear. It felt slightly sad that we had to stoop to this level just to make some rando, kid that we'll never see again find out that his girlfriend was killed saving him. I understood what Ruby was doing and I also understood why, but it just felt wrong for some reason. I didn't have much time to ponder it since the two other members of JNPR arrived very quickly. I had no choice but to feel bad for these kids. One of their friends is lying in the hospital, pretty much on life support, and the other is dead, and there was nothing they could've done about both had the looks of absolute despair on their faces. Pyrrha Nikos, I've heard her names several times. She won the Mistral Regional Tournament four years in a row. She was a world famous fighter. Jaune Arc, I didn't recognize him, but I did recognize his last name. The Arc family has been a bloodline of great warriors for generation upon generation. This boy didn't have the look of a great warrior about him, but looks can be very deceiving, as I know from personal experience.

"Thank you both for coming on such short notice," Ozpin said to both of them.

"Of course, Professor," Pyrrha said. "You also asked us to bring these," she said, as she held out the outfit of their old teammate.

"Yes, I did. I'll explain what those are for later. But right now, I wanted to get your input on what happened during your stealth mission."

Jaune cleared his throat and began, "The mission started out normally. Nothing special about that. When we arrived at the White Fang compound, we didn't see anything. Ruby said that our mission was done there. She said that there was nothing to report. I made the order to stay where we were and steakout the compound for a few hours. As it started getting dark, lights inside the facility started to come on. A couple of White Fang grunts opened up the cargo bay doors on the side of the building. Inside we could see more dust than I even knew we had in the kingdom. They had containers upon containers full of dust. Every type that you can think of. They opened the doors for their next shipment they were receiving. Ruby said that we should attack right then and there and take the dust back. I reminded her of our mission objective and she fell quiet again. We sat and watched for about an hour as they took the dust in and arranged it in the bay. Just as I was about to call the mission complete we were ambushed by a special ops team of the White Fang. We weren't injured at first, but as we tried to get out of there, Pyrrha and I took some minor injuries. We killed our attackers, but more were coming to back them up. We had no choice but to run from them. I gave the order to retreat. Ren and Ruby were right behind us at first. I didn't look back until I didn't hear the cries of the enemies anymore. I was sure we lost them until I turned around. I was filled with absolute shock when I saw that both Ren and Ruby were gone. We immediately doubled back to get to them both. We came upon Ruby's body. It was surrounded by Beowolves. We chased them away without any problems. We didn't see Ren anywhere, so I tried calling him on his scroll. He didn't answer it at all so I just assumed that he was already on his way back to Beacon. Then I picked up Ruby and we made our way back here. It wasn't until I felt her getting cold that I realized she was dead. I felt incredibly guilty. Oh, who am I kidding? I am guilty for her dying! If it wasn't for my cowardice, Ruby would still be here! It's all my fault, Professor!"

"Silence, Jaune!", Ozpin said. Jaune immediately fell silent. "None of what happened was your fault. You gave your orders as you thought what was best for your team. I know you aren't a coward. You're a great leader. You couldn't defeat the enemy you were faced with. A team of special forces White Fang members would be a challenge for even the most experienced of huntsmen. They are highly trained killers. Their entire life revolves around how they're going to kill their next target. So you can not be blamed for anything that happened that night. Quite frankly, you're both lucky to still be alive and able right now. It's even a miracle that Ren is still alive. Ruby's death at their hands is indeed a tragedy, but it should give you a reason to keep fighting. Keep her spirit alive within your hearts, and use the memory of her to keep you going everyday."

I had to interject. "I've had enough of this. We need to do something Oz. We can't just sit here while the White Fang gather up their forces and get ready for who knows what."

He shot me his classic glance of disapproval. "I know you want to help Raven, but I'm afraid this is above any of us here. We can't get involved in matt-"

"Bullshit Ozpin! You call yourself a huntsman, but you won't act to save the city you call home? Especially when that threat is right in your backyard? I don't think it would be a stretch to say that even my Ruby is less of a coward than you are right now!"

"ENOUGH! I'm simply airing on the side of caution here. Or did you forget what happened all those years ago?"

"I remember it every day. I can't close my eyes at night without seeing it. Without reliving that day every single time I go to sleep."

A silence fell over the room. Me and Ozpin both stared at each other for a few seconds. Finally, I broke the silence, "Well, you can do whatever you're going to do. But I'm going to do something about this scum that's staying in our city without an invitation. Let's go Ruby." I grabbed her hand and headed for the elevator.

"Wait."

That wasn't Ozpin. It was Jaune. I stopped and turned to look at him.

"I want to do something about them, too, and I'm not going to sit around while a fellow huntress goes to fight the White Fang." He turned and looked at Ozpin. "Sir, if we tell the kingdom authorities, it could take them weeks, even months for them to actually do something about the warehouse. So if not us, then who will do something about it?"

Ozpin sat down at his desk. He put his head in his hands for a few moments. The room was so quiet, I heard the birds that were on top of the clock tower. Finally, he sighed, "Okay. I'm authorizing the mission. But, I'm going with you. I won't sit idly by while I send my students to fight some special forces members. But Raven, you're going to be the team leader."

 _So he isn't washed up after all. Good. He'll be useful then._ "I would be glad to. It's been a while since we've been on an official mission together, Oz."

"Indeed it has been. But don't think that this means that you can call upon me for any mission you want to. I'm still the headmaster of this school, and while I hold that title, this academy will be my top priority."

"Oh loosen up Oz. It'll be only this one time. Besides, I already have a teammate that goes with me on all of my missions. Now let's stop wasting time. We have a mission to do. Meet me at my place in 3 hours so we can go over the mission before we do it."


	9. Chapter 9

The time went faster than I would've liked it to. I was anxious and excited to get this started, but I also wasn't sure how everyone else was going to perform, especially Ruby. She was my everything, and if I lost her, I don't know what I would do. It's been a long time since I've gone on a mission with Ozpin. The last mission we did together was when he hurt his leg saving Summer from a Beowolf. She was about to get killed by that beast, but ozpin stepped in front of it, stabbed it through the heart, and killed it right then and there. But what we didn't see until it was too late was that the Beowolf cut his leg very badly, severing one of his less important tendons that wasn't essential for movement. He got lucky, to say the least. But after that mission, he retired from active duty as a huntsman. Not long after that though, I got Tigra and she became my new partner. But the time for remembering the old times was over. Everyone was on their way, and I wasn't even wearing my combat gear yet. The most extravagant piece of clothing I had in my wardrobe was my combat uniform. I never went on a mission without it. It looked pretty good just by itself, but what really put it all together was the one piece that actually didn't have black on it. It was my Grimm mask. It looked menacing, to say the least. Once the mask went on, I was a different kind of Raven. I'm all business when the mask comes on, and nothing changes that. I looked out my window and saw Ozpin pulling up to my house, with the two other kids in the car with him. _Perfect timing,_ I thought to myself. I grabbed my sword off of my bed and headed out to the living room. I looked around and saw Tigra staring at the door, waiting for everyone to walk in the door.

"Nice," I told her. She looked at me and then lowered her head back onto her paws but didn't take her gaze away from the door. I went to the door to greet everybody as they came inside.

"Come on. There's a lot to go over." Everyone filed in quickly.

"Make yourselves right at home. Don't worry about the giant cat. She won't do anything unless I tell her to. Ruby! Get down here! It's time to go over the mission!", I yelled up to her. I heard her room door open and I moved to the middle of the living room to address everyone. Ruby came down the stairs, looked around for a place to sit, then took a seat at the kitchen table when she saw that there wasn't anywhere left in the living room.

I looked around the room, "Alright. So this is it then. I'm not going to sugar coat this in the least. This will be the biggest victory over the White Fang in a long time if we pull this off. Don't expect this to be done quickly or done easily. This is going to be a hard fought battle, and they will spare no expense to try and stop us. I've been fighting these people since before you three young ones were even born. Now, the biggest thing that we are going to need for this mission is communication. So before we leave, we're going to all sync our Scrolls together. If you need any help at any time, don't hesitate to ask. That's how you get yourself killed. We'll split into two separate teams. Those teams will consist of myself, Ruby, and Tigra. You three will be on the other team. Now I did a little digging in the public library and found a blueprint of that building. So this is what we're going off of to make our entrance. Now this entrance on the northern side of the building would probably be the most heavily guarded area since it's the main entrance. The south side will probably be heavily guarded as well since it's the secondary entrance. Now I did some more digging about this place and found that there is an underground entrance, but it was sealed off a good number of years ago due to rat infestations. Now I have an idea to use that to our advantage if things get a bit dicey, but I'll save that for later. Now the idea that I have of how we're going in. There are multiple entrances on the east and west sides of the building for safety reasons. We're going to use those entrances since they're only normal doors and not huge cargo bay doors. Team Ozpin will go in the west entrance, and Team Raven will go in the east. Take it slow, keep it quiet, and take out any guards you see quickly and quietly. We need to thin out their numbers as much as possible before the real battle starts. They're not stocking up that much dust for no reason. They're getting ready for a war. A huge, violent, and bloody war. But we are going to be the first line of defense before that war even gets started. I have two separate plans that we could implement in the case of how the mission goes. Our first plan is plain and simple, we go in quietly, take out the guards, and call the authorities to get the dust back. Nice and easy right? Now plan two is a little more explosive. That sewer entrance I mentioned earlier, well we'll be using that as a type of distraction. I'll put a charge on that old entrance, and if things get bad in there I'll blow it, which should cause the other guards to get distracted just long enough for us to take them out and regroup. If things really start to get bad, I'll put charges on the dust containers and blow them all up. Either way, that dust isn't going to be theirs anymore. Any questions?" They looked around at each other. Then Ozpin spoke up, "How exactly did you get these explosives Raven?"

"I have my sources Oz. Do enough missions outside of the kingdom and you start to make connections. These charges are the safest kind you can get. They only explode after receiving only one type of signal. They will not detonate no matter what happens to them. They can get shot as many times as you want and they'll be perfectly fine. That's the exact reason I chose them for this mission. Anyone else?" I looked around the room at everybody. "No? Perfect. Now, let's sync up our Scrolls. As soon as we step foot outside that door, the mission officially starts." We all gathered around in the living room and synced up our Scrolls. We put on our headsets and tested to make sure we could all hear each other. Once the audio test was done, we set about on our mission. "Since there's a sewer entrance relatively close by here, I'm going to go down there and get to the sewer entrance under the facility. Tigra, you go with Ruby. Stay by her side. I'll see you guys there."

With that I took off to the nearest entrance I could find. I took out my scroll and brought up the map of the sewer system that runs throughout all of Vale. The sewers smelled terrible, but what else could I expect. It was a sewer after all. I made my way to the place as quickly as I could. _Looks like the spot._ I double checked my Scroll to make sure I was at the right spot. This was it. I took the small bomb out of my pouch on my side and stuck it to the sealed up entrance. Then I hurried to the nearby exit to regroup with Ruby and Tigra. I found the exit and got out as quietly as possible.

"Raven to Ruby. Do you hear me?"

"I hear you Raven. Me and Tigra are getting close to the entrance."

"Got it. Wait for me there. Team Ozpin, report."

"This is Ozpin. We have eyes on the facility and awaiting your orders to advance."

"Roger. I'm on my way to regroup with my team. Shouldn't be any longer than 5 minutes."

"Team Ozpin copies all."

I took off to regroup with Ruby and Tigra. It took me less than 5 minutes to get there. I was immediately greeted by a giant cat that wouldn't stop smelling me. I pushed past her and went to Ruby. "What do we have so far?"

"Nothing special. They're just standing there, looking kind of anxious for some reason."

"Anxious guards is never a good sign. Ozpin, what do you make of the situation?"

"Well, in my professional opinion, I'd say they're waiting for somebody."

"Sounds about right. By the looks of it, it's probably a higher up in the White Fang. Let's get inside now and take up some hiding positions. I want to see this boss of there's. Move in teams."

We moved quickly and quietly to the doors. Ruby listened to see if she could hear anyone close to the door. Tigra sniffed for them as well. They both didn't get anything so we moved in silently. I poked my head through and saw that the place was very sparse in terms of guards. But there were plenty of shipping containers around to take cover behind.

I whispered, "Team Ozpin, report."

"We've made it inside unnoticed. Ready for further orders."

"Find a place to hide and stay put. With this many guards they'll notice if any of them go missing."

"Copy that. We'll find a spot to hide."

"Notify me when you do."

I looked around our current area and found a container that had an opened front and back. The good news was that there were barrels that covered up the entire container so all three of us could fit in it without any issues.

"In here you two. There's enough space for all of us."

They both got in got settled in for a long wait. I did too. But I also got a spot where I could watch the northern entrance.

"Team Ozpin to Raven. We're in position."

"Copy. Get settled in. This could take a while."

"I hear you. We're settled in."

"Good. Now exercise radio silence until we know what's going on."

We all sat in total silence for a while. We didn't hear anything besides the light chatter that was going on between the guards. As I started to get bored, I heard the guards scrambling back to their respective positions. I looked through the small gaps in the shipping drums out to the entrance. What I saw sent shivers up and down my spine. The two people I saw were the top criminals in and around Vale. They were none other than Cinder Fall, and her second-in-command, Roman Torchwick. I've had a few bouts with Cinder before, but I've never fought Torchwick.

"Ozpin come in. Tell me you're seeing the same people I am."

"I see them Raven. These are definitely who the guards were waiting for."

"Seems like we're going to have a fight on our hands then."

"It would seem so."

"Keep your heads down and wait for me to tell you to go."

"Got it."

I kept my eyes glued to Cinder. She was very crafty, and she was also very skilled at fighting. I assumed Roman was as well. _We're going to have to gang up on both of them. They're too skilled for a one-on-one fight._ I looked at Ruby. "Ruby. I want to take a shot at the woman out there."

"Wh- Right now?"

"Yes, right now."

"Okay. I'll give it a shot." She moved from her hiding spot noiselessly. One of the perks of having cat attributes. I looked back to Cinder. She was still addressing the head guard. Roman was listening quietly behind her. I heard Ruby's gun go off. But nothing happened. Cinder was in a slightly off position. She dodged it? But how?

"Did you really think I didn't know you were there? You can't hide from me in my own warehouse. But too bad for you. You're never going to be leaving it alive."

How did she know we were here? There were no cameras in the entire building, both inside and out. Oh well, no time to think about that.

"Attack now!" I yelled. Everyone jumped out from their hiding spots and tried attacking at once. But Cinder was ready for us. She spun around and made a flame shield around her and Roman. But she left the guards open. I took out two at the northern entrance. Tigra took out the other one that was there. Jaune and Pyrrha took out the guards at the south entrance. Now it was six against two. But that didn't necessarily even the odds. These two were great fighters, otherwise they would've brought guards with them. Just one of these two could destroy the entire team that took out Ren and Ruby Nightblade. They were the best of the best, and there was no denying that this was going to get bloody.

Cinder lowered her shield and looked around to see her guards dead all around us. She smirked, "Hmph. So you were able to take them out that quickly. I guess you are the real deal then, Raven Branwen."

I froze. How did she learn my name? I've never told my name to an opponent before.

"That's right. I know your name. I also know you, Professor Ozpin. But that's nothing special, since everyone in Vale knows who you are. I don't know the names of the rest of you, but I really don't care since you're all going to be before the night is over."

"I have a request before we begin," I said to her.

"Is that so? Well let's hear it. This should be interesting."

"How do you know my name? I've never told an enemy my name before. Me and you have fought more than once, and I've never said my name to you before."

"Now that is a good question, isn't it? I'm actually glad you asked me that. It's actually pretty simple really. After our last fight, we left each other badly wounded. We were barely able to escape from each other with our lives. I wanted to know your name, but I had no way of knowing it. So I did some digging. I couldn't find anything on you for the longest time. Then, one day, I saw a newspaper article talking about you and how you and your team saved an entire village from a ravenous pack of Beowolves. I didn't recognize anyone in the picture except for you. Obviously your name appeared in the article as the team leader. It was pretty simple if you think about it. My biggest, unnamed rival, found in the news as a hero." Well that definitely wasn't the answer I was looking for, but I guess it did the trick.

"Since you asked such a great question, I'll answer another one that's on your mind. What are we planning to do with all of this dust? We plan on destroying the kingdom of Vale. We're going to wage an all out war against vale, right in it's own backyard. We'll destroy your kingdom, and then the others, systematically. until there are no safe havens left for humanity on this planet. Then we're going to make a new kingdom. One that is for Faunus only. Where they won't be mistreated by the likes of the human scum that you are."

"But you two are humans. Why would they accept you into their ranks when they apparently hate the rest of humanity?"

They accepted us because we promised them the freedom that they deserved. But enough of this petty talk. We said we were going to kill you, and that 's exactly what we intend to do," and with that, she lunged at me, creating a sword out of thin air. I brought mine up to block hers. I pushed her off of me, "Ruby! Shoot her now!" Rubu took another shot at Cinder. This time she didn't dodge it. She simply put her hand up to where Ruby's shot was coming from and the bullet got destroyed as it hit her palm. No surprise there. She somehow infused her own body with dust to make it easier to use. I've heard that things like that are extremely dangerous to do, but they have a huge payoff if done correctly. It would seem like Cinder was one of those people that did it correctly. I looked behind Cinder to see that Team Ozpin was taking on Torchwick. They seemed to be at a stand still with him as well. I looked at Ruby and shook my head. That was our signal for her to switch to her special dust rounds. Made specifically to destroy dust protection. Those should be able to rip right through her dust abilities. Cinder wasn't going to make it easy though. She came right back at me with more force than last time. I caught her attack just like last. Just then, Tigra crashed into her head first. As both of them went sprawling to the ground, Cinder took a swing at Tigra and cut her along her side. Her weapon was able to cut through the thick armor of a Grimm. Tigra fell to the ground with a resounding thud. She was still alive, but she wasn't going to be fighting anymore today. This threw me into a rage. I would do anything to protect Tigra. That includes giving my life for hers. I charged Cinder before she had the chance to regain her footing. She tried to block but I used a teleport blade to get behind her. I came back out with a lightning blade. The lightning was crackling since I put more dust into it than it's supposed to hold. It wasn't recommended to do that, but I've tested this numerous times over the years that I've had these blades and figured out that I could do that for at least one hit, possibly two. She quickly raised up her sword and as our blades clashed, lightning shot out in every direction. As the energy quickly dissipated, I pushed off and landed a good distance away that let me switch back to a regular blade. She stood looking at her sword for a few seconds. She turned around and I got to see the damage I did to her blade. The electric energy was so strong that I was able to cut almost half way through her blade. It was effective. One more strike like that would put her weapon out of business. But that could also make her more dangerous since she would be free to use her dust powers a lot more. Another shot rang out from Ruby. This time, her shot connected. She hit Cinder square in the shoulder. I glanced down at the ground that she was standing on. It was close to the blocked up sewer entrance, but she needed to be closer for it to do some real damage.

"Again Ruby!"

The next shot went immediately. This time it hit Cinder in her sword arm. But it also knocked her directly over the covered up entrance. I pressed the button on my sword hilt to make the bomb go off. The floor exploded and it sent Cinder flying up in the air. I was certain that we had her. But then I noticed something. Her sword was gone. _Where is it? She just had it._ As I watched her, she recovered in the air and landed on her feet on the ground. Now I understood what she did with her sword. She absorbed it back into her. She fabricated it out of dust. But now she absorbed it back into her, which meant that she was going to be using her dust energy attacks. Ruby didn't hesitate to let out another shot on her. She easily dodged it. She was faster now. Much faster than before. I switched to a dust neutralizing blade. But the switching process wasn't fast enough. She was right in front of me before I could draw my blade again. She hit me directly in the chest with a force attack that I've never even seen before, let alone felt before. The hit sent me flying back a good distance. I almost didn't land on my feet. I looked up and saw her go towards Ruby. Cinder might be fast, but so am I. I switched my sword to a teleport blade and teleported in front of Ruby. I switched to a dust neutralizing blade as I moved. Cinder met my surprise strike with an energy shield surrounding her hands. She concentrated her energy to her hands to avoid the neutralizing ability. Very clever, but it didn't matter. Ruby took another shot at her. This time she hit her in the leg. That disrupted her concentration on her dust energy and allowed me for a clean kill strike. I swung with all of the strength that I had. I almost killed her, but she was just able to move out of the way at the last second. I was still able to cut her pretty deeply though. I was able to get a good hit on her left arm. Right into her shoulder. It was a very good hit because I just took out her left arm. She tried to raise it but she couldn't. This was going very good right now. Ruby took another shot, and hit her directly in the middle of her chest. It didn't do any damage, but it gave me the opportunity that I needed to land the killing blow. I sprinted up to kill her, but then I felt something behind me. I turned around to see a red blur go by me. I turned back around to see Ruby's scythe sticking through Cinder. She took the kill shot for herself. She pulled out her scythe and swung it one more time. This time, she took off Cinder's head. She didn't leave anything to chance. She wanted to make sure Cinder was dead. This was her way. I look over to Team Ozpin and saw that they captured Roman Torchwick. He surrendered after he saw his leader die. They were all tired, but no one was seriously injured. I went to check on Tigra. She was still alive. Cinder's attack didn't cut too deeply to do any real damage. Tigra's armor took the brunt of the attack. Tigra slowly got up. She had a little bit of trouble but she was fine once she got her bearings back.

"We did it. We really did it. We just took out the two highest members of the White Fang."

"Yeah we did," Ruby said, walking up to me. "And it was all thanks to your expert leadership skills."

"Not at all. You were the true hero here today. If you didn't have those rounds, she would still be alive, and we would still probably be fighting. It's also thanks to you that Tigra is still alive. If you hadn't distracted Cinder when you did, she would've killed her, and that's something that I'll be forever grateful to you for." Now to deal with one loose thread. I went over to Torchwick. "So, what to do with you now. That's a tough decision. The fighter part of me tells to kill you right here and now. But the human part of me says that you need to go to a super maximum security prison."

He looked up to me, "Now that she's dead, I don't care what you do to me."

"The decision is yours Oz."

He pondered his decision for a moment, "Hmm. While it would be nice to see him permanently as no longer a threat, the humane side of me has also prevailed. We will turn him over to the authorities, and let them decide what to do with him."

"Alright. I won't oppose that." I looked at Torchwick, "Just know that if I find you doing anything illegal like this again, I will kill you. Let's get out of here."

Jaune spoke up, "But what are we going to do with all of this dust?"

"We'll tell the police about it when we turn in this guy," I said to him.

"Should we have somebody guard it until the police come. Just to make sure that no other White Fang members come here?"

I looked at Ozpin, "They're your students."

He pondered it for a moment, "It would probably be best if we all escorted him to the police together. He is a very skilled fighter. We'll complete this mission as a team. So come with us Mr. Arc."

"Yes, professor."

We set off towards my house again. I contacted the police and told them that we had captured the wanted criminal, Roman Torchwick, and were holding him for them at my place. I gave the dispatcher my address and they said they would send out a squad car immediately. The police were already waiting at my house by the time we got there. We handed over Torchwick to the authorities. I made sure to inform them that they were stockpiling all of the dust they've stolen at the warehouse. The officers told me they would inform their chief and that he would take it from there. I thanked the officers for their time and they thanked me for capturing Torchwick. I watched the car disappear from sight as they drove away. Ozpin walked up next to me, "You know, I wouldn't mind starting this back up for a living."

I looked at him, surprised, "Oh really? Wasn't it you who said to not ask you for help on any other missions? What made you change your mind?"

"While we were waiting for Cinder to show up, I accidentally fell asleep. I had a dream about way back when, when we were still together. It reminded me about how happy I was then, and how much I wanted to feel that way again. So what do you say? Can we give it another shot?"

I turned to face him. "I don't know," I kissed him very quickly, "Does that answer your question?" A big smile came over his face as we embraced each other again after so many years.


	10. Chapter 10

That night everyone slept at my place. It didn't bother me at all. After that night, I felt that we all got a bit closer as friends. It also gave me a bit more faith in the next generation of huntsman, and I couldn't be happier. The next day we all had to do something we weren't particularly happy about. We forgot about the whole issue with a certain Lie Ren still in the hospital. We also had to tell him about the fact that his Ruby was dead. I had everyone gathered in the living room to talk them through this process.

"Alright, guys. This is something none of us really want to do, but we don't really have a choice. This is something that has to be done or Ren is going to find out the hard way." Everyone got quiet for a moment, then Ruby spoke up, "Well, we agreed that I would be the one to tell him before, so I assume that we're sticking to that plan?"

"It would seem so," Ozpin said. I simply nodded to confirm his statement. The whole room grew quiet for a few minutes. No one wanted to tell Ren about what happened, but like I said before, we didn't have a choice. When everyone was ready, we got in the car and made our way to the hospital. Not a single word was said on the way there, but no one really needed to say anything. We all had the same thought on our minds.

We got to the hospital and went into Ren's room. What we saw was equal parts terrifying and amazing. We walked in on a sleeping Ren. That wasn't the surprising part. Who we saw sitting next to him was the amazing part. We saw none other than Ruby Nightblade sitting next to him, holding his hand with a weak smile on her face. Jaune was completely frozen where he stood. Pyrrha was only able to barely utter out Ruby's name, "Ruby…" Ruby looked over at us, "Hey guys. It's been a while."

"Is that really you, Ruby?", Jaune finally said.

"Well who else would I be?"

"Well, we all thought you were dead after that mission."

"Well then you would be almost right. I almost died. I got very lucky that I didn't. I played dead until all of the enemies went away. Then I was able to limp away until I passed out from blood loss. Next thing I knew I woke up in a random room. A traveling merchant found me on the ground and took me to his house to get better. He helped me better than a hospital ever could. When I came to, he told me that I slept like a rock for four days. I stayed at his place for about another week until I was back to full strength. I thanked him his incredible generosity. He told me that he was always happy to help a huntress because I was helping him more than he was by fighting to protect the kingdom. As soon as I left his house I made my way here to see Ren. I was incredibly relieved to see that he was alive and okay. I also wanted to thank whoever brought him here."

"Uh, that would be me and Raven," Ruby said.

Ruby Nightblade smiled at us, "Thank you, you two. I can't express how grateful I truly am."

Everyone in the room was in absolute shock about the fact that Ruby Nightblade was still alive. Here we were, about to tell this kid that his girlfriend was dead, and we walk in to find her sitting right next to him.

"Well it's nice to finally meet you, Ruby," I finally said to her.

"It's great to meet you, too. I'm so grateful for everything you've done for him," she said.

"I wouldn't be so sure about that. I almost killed him when we first found him. I thought he was secretly sent to kill me and my Ruby or something. But once I saw that he was genuinely injured we took care of him and brought him here. We also finished the mission you guys started before. We even took out the infamous Cinder Fall, and her right hand man, Roman Torchwick is now in jail," I told her.

"Well that's a relief. But what about the black ops team that ambushed us?"

"We didn't run into them at all. But you can be sure that if we did they would be dead too."

"That's unfortunate. Well, at least everyone got in and out of the mission unharmed, that's something to be happy about."

Ren started to stir in his bed. He opened his eyes and looked around the room at everyone standing around him. Finally his eyes met those of his lover. He stared at her like she was a ghost. Then, in a split second, he had her in an embrace. He already had tears in his eyes. "I thought I was never going to see you again," he said to her, between sobs.

"Shhh. It's okay," she said, petting his head,"I'm here now, and I'm never going to leave your side again. I can assure you of that." I looked at Ozpin and nodded my head towards the door. We went out into the hall and I leaned against the wall with him standing in front of me. "So, it's a relief to see that she's alive. So I guess the mission's over now. Also, in the future, make sure you contact actual certified huntsmen to do a job of that magnitude."

"Well, I'm afraid that I won't be giving out missions anymore," he said.

"Oh really? Why's that?"

"Because I'm not going to be the headmaster at Beacon anymore. I'm going to be a full time huntsman again, with you."

"Then who's taking the headmaster position?"

"Glynda Goodwitch. She's been my personal assistant for years now and I feel that she deserves the position. I'm sure that she'll make a great headmaster for Beacon."

I smiled at him, "Okay old man. But don't expect me to wait for you when we're on missions."

"I wasn't expecting you to. Actually, I was going to say the same to you. You know that injury that I got all that time ago? Well it's fully healed."

"Took you long enough."

Ruby came out of the room. "I figured I'd let the team have some time to themselves. So, what's going on out here?"

"Well, Professor Ozpin was just telling me about how he's not going to be a professor anymore. He wants to be a huntsman again and he's going to be my partner again."

"You're not going to be the headmaster anymore? But I was looking forward to having you as my headmaster for my years at Beacon."

"Sorry about that Ruby. But I'm sure that you'll still do great at Beacon even without me there. Besides, I'll be living with Raven again, so if you have any questions you can just ask me."

"You bet I'll be able doing that."

He smirked, "Looking forward to it."

9 years later

9 years ago my little Ruby enlisted in Beacon Academy. She was one of the best huntresses there. Now she was graduated and a fully fledged and certified huntress. She went on missions with me, Ozpin, Tigra, and even her own Grimm tiger hybrid, Panthara. The 5 of us were an unstoppable team. No mission was too big or too small for us to handle. Life was going great for us. We were all just sitting in the living room, doing whatever it was we wanted to do, when I got a call from the city. It was another mission contract.

"Alright guys, listen up. We have another mission. This one is pretty simple. A pack of ravenous Beowolves are heading for a village just outside of the city again. It's our job to go and kill them. So let's go." We set out once more to protect our city, and all who resided in it.

Finish


End file.
